Scientists working in and around Yellowstone National Park say that the supervolcano sitting under the tourist attraction may blow sooner than thought, an eruption that could wipe out life on the planet.

According to National Geographic, the researchers, from Arizona State University, analyzed minerals in fossilized ash from the most recent mega-eruption and found changes in temperature and composition that had only taken a few decades. Until now, the magazine reported, geologists had thought it would take centuries for the supervolcano to make the transition.

The discovery, which was presented at a recent volcanology conference, comes on top of a 2011 study that found that ground above the magma reservoir in Yellowstone had bulged by about 10 inches in seven years.

“It’s an extraordinary uplift, because it covers such a large area and the rates are so high,” the University of Utah’s Bob Smith, an expert in Yellowstone volcanism, told the magazine at the time.

As longtime readers know, I have long been worried about the volcano threat. It’s a much bigger threat than an asteroid strike and, I would argue, than global warming. While I joke about it a lot, I sincerely believe that scientists and policymakers need to take this threat a lot more seriously. As I wrote last month, NASA is doing that. I began that Corner post:

Old School readers of the Corner will recall that one of my obsessions about a dozen years ago was the obvious need to develop volcano-lancing technology, ideally airborne-laser volcano-lancing technology. The Vulcan menace is real and it is underappreciated. Unfortunately, my first Airborne-Laser Volcano-Lancing posts have been lost to the mists of time. If any truly gifted Google-fu masters can find links, I’d be grateful to see them.

Well, a very generous and resourceful reader took matters into his own hands and seems to have found my entire volcanic oeuvre. I don’t want to embarrass him, so I’ll just use his initials, and say thanks very much C.K. Here it is: